In June Bedouine released her self-titled debut album via Spacebomb Records. This led to the selling out of her first ever London show at London’s The Islington on Monday 9 Oct and the adding of an additional date the following day.

In the lead up to these shows as well as her in-store at Rough Trade on Saturday 7 Oct, her part in the Spacebomb Revue at the Barbican Centre on Friday 6 Oct and her subsequent UK tour with Matthew E. White and Michael Kiwanuka, Bedouine has today shared ‘Bedouine: Inside the self-titled debut’.

The short film, made by Tom Salvaggio, features conversations with Matthew E. White and bass player / producer Gus Seyffert about the making of the album as well as studio footage, performance clips and audio of early recording sessions.

Bedouine has a story to match the name. Azniv Korkejian, born in Aleppo, Syria to Armenian parents, spent her childhood in Saudi Arabia, moving to America when her family won a Green Card lottery. Living at various times in Boston, Houston, Lexington, Austin, and Savannah, she eventually found a community of musicians in Los Angeles that feels like home. One day she walked into the studio of bass Gus Seyffert to inquire about portable reel-to-reel tape machines and ended up cutting ‘Solitary Daughter’ in a first take.

Eschewing notions of nomadic chic, Bedouine represents minimalism motivated by travel, paring down and paring down until only the essential remains. Her music establishes a sustained and complete mood, reflecting on the unending reverberations of displacement, unafraid to take pleasure along the way.

Earlier this year Daphni (aka Caribou, aka Dan Snaith) released a very special FABRICLIVE mix made up of 23 original, unreleased Daphni tracks and four new Daphni edits to widespread critical acclaim. Today he has followed up with the announcement that he’ll be releasing a new full-length album, Joli Mai, on 6 October comprised of extended versions of the tracks from the mix as well as new, unreleased material. Along with the announcement Daphni has also shared lead single ‘Carry On’ in its entirety.

11 tracks from this 12 track album are tracks that were made to be two or three minutes long for the mix and have been unfurled into full length versions that Dan can play in his Daphni sets. This includes widely praised singles ‘Face To Face’, ‘Tin’ and ‘Hey Drum’ in their entirety along with never-before-heard extended versions of other mix highlights such as ‘The Truth’, ‘Medellin’ and ‘Carry on’. Also released for the first time is ‘Vulture’, a track that has appeared in sets by Ben UFO and Joy Orbison, was just released as a part of Midland‘s FABRICLIVE mix and one which fans have been asking for a release for since it first appeared in Ben UFO’s RA 500 DJ mix in 2015.

To mark the release of Joli Mai Daphni is performing two extended DJ sets in small clubs in London – Five Miles on 7 Oct and Corsica Studios on 8 Oct. Tickets are available now:

Twenty-five-year-old, Indiana-born artist Peter Oren recently announced his second album, Anthropocene, will be arriving 10 November via Western Vinyl. Along with the announcement Oran shared the first single and title-track which saw widespread praise including a ‘Best New Track’ from NME, ‘Track of the Day’ from Clash plus radio play from 6 Music and Radio 1‘s Annie Mac.

Today he has followed up with the second single ‘Falling Water’ as well as the news that he’ll be heading out on a UK tour this winter which includes a performance at Mirrors Festival as well dates alongside Angelo De Augustine which include a stop at London‘s St Pancras Old Church. Speaking of the track Oren said:

‘Falling Water’ alludes to a poem by Wendell Berry called ‘The Real Work’. In it Berry wonders if confusion and troubles mark the “real” challenges of our lives, and he offers a somewhat uplifting perspective: “The impeded stream is the one that sings.”

Coming from Columbus, Indiana, I have struggled with having a hometown that embodies America’s poorly white-washed history of genocide and racism. In either attempted escape or pursuit of breathing room, I’ve wandered and tossed myself around (often gone in circles) and sought a place to settle, like a steep stream. Somewhere in the process I wrote this song.

Angel Olsen will release Phases, a collection of rarities and demos spanning her career thus far, including a number of never-before released tracks, on November 10th via Jagjaguwar. Balancing tenacity and tenderness, Phasesacts as a deep-dive for longtime fans, as well as a fitting introduction to Olsen’s sprawling sonics for the uninitiated.

From the lo-fi, sparse folk-melancholy of her 2010 EP, Strange Cacti, to the more electrified sound of last year’s beloved and acclaimed MY WOMAN, which won The A2IM Libera Awards’ ‘Album of the Year’ in the US and saw an enormous end of year reception worldwide, Olsen has refused to succumb to a single genre, expectation, or vision. Impossible to pin down, she navigates the world with her remarkable, symphonic voice and a propensity for narrative, her music growing into whatever shape best fits to tell the story.

Phases opens with ‘Fly On Your Wall’, previously contributed to the Bandcamp-only Our First 100 Days fundraiser, before seamlessly slipping into ‘Special’, a brand new song from the MY WOMAN recording sessions. Both ‘How Many Disasters’ and ‘Sans’ are first-time listens: home-recorded demos that have never been released, leaning heavily on Olsen’s arresting croon and lonesome guitar. The rarities compilation is both a testament to Olsen’s enormous musical range and a tidy compilation of tracks that have previously been elusive in one way or another.

James Holden recently announced his third album recorded together with his newly-expanded band as James Holden & The Animal Spirits. The Animal Spirits will be released 3 November via his own Border Community label. Following the announcement and the sharing of the relentless, elastic and hypnotic polyrhythms of lead single ‘Pass Through The Fire‘, today he has shared the second single to be taken from the album, ‘Each Moment Like The First’.

As the only track on the album not recorded in the one week-long mammoth live recording session with the full band, ‘Each Moment Like The First’ sits both as an anomaly and as a glimpse at the records core. The track’s recording is the first time Holden played it with drummer Tom Page during an early rehearsal. “What you hear”, says Holden, “is us making it up as we go along, playing melodies I hadn’t written yet as they occurred to me, finding where the song wanted to go. And although we tried rerecording it later with more players and better mics, there was something untouchable about the truth of that first time.” The idea of a musical recording capturing a unique moment in time which can’t be recreated is central to Holden’s personal recording dogma, and so this raw, stripped back – yet undeniably magical – rehearsal version of ‘Each Moment Like The First’ sits at the centre of the album, offering a revealing window into Holden & Page’s improvisational process.

The Animal Spirits will be the first full length release from Holden since 2013’s critically lauded The Inheritors which saw top-twenty ‘Album of the Year’mentions from the likes of FACT, MOJO and Clash as well as #2 from Loud & Quiet and Resident Advisor’s ‘Album of the Year’. The band consists of long-time collaborators Tom Page (RocketNumberNine) and Etienne Jaumetas well as Marcus Hamblett, Liza Bec and Lascelle Gordon.

Recorded live in one room in single takes and born out of of the sheer unbridled joy of live performance, Holden’s third artist album The Animal Spiritsis the momentous culmination of a radical transformation, as the former trailblazer of the early noughties computer music revolution is dramatically reborn as live musician and band leader.

Holden also recently announced his first London show since 2015 at Islington Assembly Hall on 6 December as well as his curated stage at this year’s Le Guess Who? with artists including Maâlem Houssam Guinia & Band, Sex Swing, Hieroglyphic Being and Mario Batkovic.

Twenty-five-year-old, Indiana-born artist Peter Oren recently announced his second album, Anthropocene, will be arriving 10 November via Western Vinyl. Along with the announcement Oran shared the first single and title-track, today he has followed up with the grand, beautiful yet sorrowful video.

Speaking of the self-filmed, self-directed video Peter said:

“The Anthropocene is not something an individual can escape. Sometimes I feel like one of many fleas jumping around this big/small world in search of a place that’ll do, whatever that might mean. The last five years or so has involved a lot of long drives and isolation as I’ve explored and sought places to hold, if only in passing. These travels felt in part like the manifestation of rejection of the place I was born to, called “Indiana,” and a search for what’s next. I’ve learned that one cannot move to the future as a physical place that is waiting with clean sheets and a hot shower.

One of the most haunting sights I can think of seeing on these drives is an oil refinery at night that emanates light into the dark and vast spaces of high-desert “America”. In passing on the highway they appear as a beautiful yet terrible and imposing city made of light.

It felt only right to pair the music of the song “Anthropocene” with shots from a long, meandering drive to and from the pacific northwest from the midwest. Being a bit arrogant and controlling, I decided to shoot and edit the whole thing myself even though I’d never made a video before. I have a new respect for the medium.

As Johnny Cougar Mellonhead (that’s what my dad called John Mellencamp) would say, “C’mon baby take a ride with me…”

Hundred Waters share new track ‘Wave To Anchor’

08/09/17

HUNDRED WATERS SHARE NEW TRACK ‘WAVE TO ANCHOR’

PLAY UK/EUROPEAN TOUR INCLUDING A STOP AT LONDON’S VILLAGE UNDERGROUND IN AUTUMN

COMMUNICATING IS OUT 14 SEPTEMBER VIA !K7

“Extraordinary experimentation that burns bright against the stark vocals of frontwoman [Nicole] Miglis”The Line of Best Fit

LA-based trio Hundred Waters – comprised of vocalist Nicole Miglis, producer Trayer Tryon and drummer Zach Tetreault – recently announced their long awaited new full length, Communicating, will be released on 14 September via !K7. Today the band have shared a new song ‘Wave To Anchor’, the fourth single from Communicating. The buoyant song demonstrates the band’s equal willingness to indulge in explosive pop melodies as well as experimental production techniques, underscoring the tremendous strides in composition, performance, and confidence the band has made since their last album.

The track follows on from ‘Blanket Me’ which saw widespread acclaim including a Best New Track on Pitchfork, the video for ‘Fingers’ and the news that in Autumn they’ll be heading out on a European tour including a date at London‘s Village Underground as well as additional US dates alongside Kelsey Lu and Lafawndah.

James Holden recently announced his third album recorded together with his newly-expanded band as James Holden & The Animal Spirits. The Animal Spirits will be released 3 November via his own Border Community label. Following the announcement and the sharing of the relentless, elastic and hypnotic polyrhythms of lead single ‘Pass Through The Fire‘, today he has announced his first London show since 2015 at Islington Assembly Hall on 6 December. He also recently announced that he’ll be curating a stage at this year’s Le Guess Who? with artists including Maâlem Houssam Guinia & Band, Sex Swing, Hieroglyphic Being and Mario Batkovic.

The Animal Spirits will be the first full length release from Holden since 2013’s critically lauded The Inheritors which saw top-twenty ‘Album of the Year’mentions from the likes of FACT, MOJO and Clash as well as #2 from Loud & Quiet and Resident Advisor’s ‘Album of the Year’. The band consists of long-time collaborators Tom Page (RocketNumberNine) and Etienne Jaumetas well as Marcus Hamblett, Liza Bec and Lascelle Gordon.

Let yourself be transported to a magical other world of instinct and intuition with this bold new set of synth-led folk-trance standards from electronics guru James Holden and his newly-expanded band of fellow travellers The Animal Spirits. A wild ride that unites the characteristic propulsive melodic vigour of his custom-made modular synthesizer system with an unlikely supporting cast of brass, wind and live percussion, the expansive and transformative psychedelic journey of The Animal Spirits is certainly eternal outsider Holden’s most ambitious work to date – but surely also his most direct and accessible.

Recorded live in one room in single takes and born out of of the sheer unbridled joy of live performance, Holden’s third artist album The Animal Spiritsis the momentous culmination of a radical transformation, as the former trailblazer of the early noughties computer music revolution is dramatically reborn as live musician and band leader.

Following on from late June’s noctambulant ‘Modafinil Blues’, Matthew Dearhas announced his second single of the summer, a collaboration with longtime friends Tegan and Sara. For years his work has suggested a populist impulse buried within, and here, in the presence of pop prestige, Dear’s sweetest side shines through.

Buoyant and blithe, ‘Bad Ones’ presents flirtation as mischief, and honesty as power. Lyrics convey the paralysis of insecurity and, as Sara puts it, “the relief in finding someone who loves the more complicated parts of you.”

The creative relationship between the Quin sisters and Dear began in 2013, when they expressed mutual admiration by email. This led to connecting for a remix project as well as a joint cover of Tears For Fears’ 1983 new wave classic ‘Pale Shelter’. Recently, when settling into new recordings, Dear happened upon a loop that brought the duo to mind. Within a day Tegan and Sara sent back a verse and chorus.

“The process was open and free,” adds Dear, who for the next month evolved the song from demo to fully-fledged composition. “Often times, we need to get out of our own way to let the magic happen, and this song is a bold reminder of that.”

Matthew Dear is a shapeshifter, oscillating seamlessly between DJ, dance-music producer, and experimental pop auteur. He is a founding artist on both Ghostly International and its dancefloor offshoot, Spectral Sound. He writes, produces, and mixes all of his work. He straddles multiple musical worlds and belongs to none, now nearly 20 years into his kaleidoscopic career, with five albums and two dozen EPs plus millions of miles in the rearview of his biography.

Dear kicked off 2017 as a selector, DJing regularly and contributing a deeply considered and personal mix to !K7 Records’ long established DJ-Kicksseries. This was bookended by a number of releases through his techno guise Audion. Prior to ‘Modafinil Blues’, Dear hadn’t shared material under his own name since his 2012 LP, the coloured Beams, which was preceded by the critically acclaimed avant-pop albums Black City, Asa Breed, and Leave Luck To Heaven. The track marked Dear’s return to his artistic id, apart from his other projects’ egos: a momentous, a prodigal shift inward to a dark and playful psyche.

James Holden has announced his third album recorded together with his newly-expanded band, going under the name James Holden & The Animal Spirits. The Animal Spirits will be released 3 November via his own Border Community label. This will be the first full length release from Holden since 2013’s critically lauded The Inheritors which saw top-twenty ‘Album of the Year’ mentions from the likes of FACT, MOJO and Clash as well as #2 from Loud & Quiet and Resident Advisor’s ‘Album of the Year’. Along with the announcement, the band – consisting of long-time collaborators Tom Page(RocketNumberNine) and Etienne Jaumet as well as Marcus Hamblett, Liza Bec and Lascelle Gordon – have shared lead single ‘Pass Through The Fire’.

Let yourself be transported to a magical other world of instinct and intuition with this bold new set of synth-led folk-trance standards from electronics guru James Holden and his newly-expanded band of fellow travellers The Animal Spirits. A wild ride that unites the characteristic propulsive melodic vigour of his custom-made modular synthesizer system with an unlikely supporting cast of brass, wind and live percussion, the expansive and transformative psychedelic journey of The Animal Spirits is certainly eternal outsider Holden’s most ambitious work to date – but surely also his most direct and accessible.

Since the release of 2013’s epic pagan saga The Inheritors, the kraut-tinged synth-and-drum core of the live touring outfit assembled by Holden to spread his alternative electronic message around the world has picked up several additional members along the way. Legendary jazz band leaders Don Cherryand Pharoah Sanders provided the blueprint for this quest to assemble “something like a spiritual jazz band playing folk / trance music”, but here cornet (Marcus Hamblett) and saxophone (Etienne Jaumet) function as the complement to the star soloist of Holden’s ever-strident synth. Meanwhile drummer Tom Page is inextricably bound to Holden’s synth care of self-coded interactive drummer-following software, keeping pace with the almost imperceptible – yet unmistakably human – micro-errors in timing which lend live drums their natural magical groove. Thus Holden’s drummer is liberated from the brutal tyranny of the click track and a new organic symbiotic relationship between human and machine is unlocked. Producer Holden’s creative control over the project is absolute, from building his own synth and software, writing the musical backbone and steering his players, to self-recording, self-mixing and eventually also self-releasing the finished collection on his own imprint.

This heady blend of the electronic and the acoustic came into being during the hot and sticky summer of 2016 under the direction of fledgling band leader Holden at his Sacred Walls studio in London. In a bid to capture what he calls the unfakeable “psychic communication” of a group performance, The Animal Spirits was recorded live in one room together in single takes, no overdubs, no edits, in accordance with his own self-imposed dogma.

What has emerged out of these sessions is a genre-blending new form of universal music that feels inherently fluid and alive. Just one example of the record’s wide-ranging influences, the relentless, elastic and hypnotic polyrhythms of ‘Pass Through The Fire’ grew out of Holden’s 2014 trip to Morocco to work with legend of Gnawa music Maalem Mahmoud Guinia. The first song he wrote for the band, ‘Pass Through The Fire’ took shape over months of pre-show dressing room practice, as Holden set about transmitting the distinctive Gnawa rhythm to drummer Page. It soon made its way into the pair’s live shows, adding Jaumet’s on-the-hop improvised sax contributions further down the line. Holden says, “This was where I got the idea that songs are just backbones or seeds and the strong ones teach/reveal themselves to the players rather than the other way round.”

Born out of of the sheer unbridled joy of live performance, Holden’s third artist album The Animal Spirits is the momentous culmination of a radical transformation, as the former trailblazer of the early noughties computer music revolution is dramatically reborn as live musician and band leader. In embracing his new found knowledge of Morocco’s Gnawa trance tradition and repackaging the brash tones of pure trance into the accommodating spiritual jazz band format, The Animal Spirits can even be viewed as a kind of coming to terms with Holden’s early trance past, only now his focus is on the parallel evolutions of folk traditions the world over and their hypnotic effects on the brain, rather than the narrow formulaic European musical genre. This one-time international DJ has now officially hung up his headphones to turn his attention to setting a new standard for interconnected live electronic performance, as he gears up to take his new five-piece musical collective out on the road this autumn. And now we are through the looking glass into a new realm of inherently organic live electronic musical performance, there can be no going back to the prison of the rigid world of computer beats.